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Be Joyful

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the PEACE OF GOD, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

These are verses I memorized years ago and they are written on my heart. There are times when I still need to remember not to be anxious, but I eventually listen to my heart saying these verses. I didn't really understand what the "peace of God" was until I experienced it. It's having peace inside you, even when you're going through heartbreaking situations and trials. It does "surpass ALL understanding" and you know it comes from GOD alone. Praise the Lord for His wonderful promises!

I love, love, love what I do. I am passionate about the things I create and the talents God has placed in me. I SO appreciate the time you take to look at my things and the comments you all leave me!

Blessings to you!

Kathy

Counting My Blessings

About Me

My name is Kathy and I have been creating things with my hands since I was very little. I'm a stay home mom. I have two handsome boys at home, Daniel (17) Cameron (15). I love the Lord and I depend on God every day to help me and allow me to use the talents He's given me.
I am so thankful that I can do what I absolutely love, creating things. My creations are truely Joyfully Made!

FTC Declaration

FTC Declaration - I declare that I am a freelance designer. I currently receive or have received in the past products that I promote and endorse as a freelance designer for free or at a discount from the following companies: Heartfelt Creations, Our Daily Bread Designs, CottageCutz, The Robin's Nest, Scor-pal, Paper Temptress, Elphine House Australia, Creative Embellishments, Really Reasonable Ribbon. Any product that I use in my designs and recommend, I do with complete honesty. I have not and would not recommend products I do not personally love.

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Friday, April 29, 2011

I've been making a lot of changes in my craft room that I thought I would post here in case it can help someone else out. It may take a few posts to show everything...there's lots to show.

I'm the kind of person that if it's out of sight, it's out of mind. I really need to see what I have or at least have a list of what I have. Otherwise, I'll either not use it or go buy something I already have...am I the only one who does this? :-)

The first big change I made was categorizing my individual stamp images on a rolodex. This is an idea I found on an awesome blog here: www.triplethescraps.blogspot.com. Her name is Patter Cross and she does lots of great organizational tips on Fridays. The link for the rolodex tip can be found here.

Using Patter's tips, this is what I came up with for mine:

The blue cards are the dividers that came with the rolodex with the alphabet on them. I used these and put categories on them written on a little punch out and glued to it with a glue dot. (I tried to different color/pattern paper for each category that kind of went with it for a quick visual...not sure if it helps, but figured I'd try it out.) In the bottom picture you can see some of the categories. I used similar ones that Patter used with some changes. The categories you need all depend of your collection of stamps. I still have more stamps to do and I can easily change the categories if I want to.

Each stamp is stamped onto one of the cards by itself. For large stamps I fit what I could on top and put the remainder on the back (you can see the back on one of them in the bottom picture). You don't really need to see the entire image, just a reference of what you have. Then note the type of mount on the top left, the stamp company on the bottom left, and stamp set it is from on the bottom right. In this one for "Thank You", it's UM-unmounted, SU-Stampin' Up, and from the set "Warmest Regards". I use the top right to note anything else noteworthy, for example, if there was a punch that goes with it or the Bible verse it contained or anything else you want to note.

As Patter suggested I put 2 or 3 stamp images on the same card if they were the same cateory and from the same set. You can see this in the bottom picture if you look closely.

So now when I need an image I just check under the category for images and see what I have. It's saving me a lot of time now not having to search through all my stamp sets. The great thing is it's all at my fingertips!

Things at my fingertips are VERY important to me. I try my best not to get out of my chair if I don't have to. I'm not lazy, I just don't have much room to get out of my chair and I'm always banging my knees. You see the distance between my desk and the counter behind me is 22" and my chair is about 19" and not on wheels. You can kind of see it in the next picture.

I'm lucky to have a spot to do my crafts and a nice desk, but it sure would be nice to have a few more inches to move about. :-)

I've also unmounted a lot of my stamps and put them in CD cases. I finally did some nice labels for them and have them in drawers in alphabetical order. Here are some pictures of what I've done.

This is a 4 drawer cube I got at Michaels which fits the cd cases nicly. I have lots more room to expand and can always buy another cube. I'll probably put the stamps in the new Stampin' Up cases in regular cd cases also. They take up a lot of space and are usually nowhere near full. I also don't like the way the cases don't stay flat when opened. I will definitely saved the orignal cases though.

Here are some more pictures close up.

The labels I used were just a list of the stamps and companies done on an Excel spreadsheet (after totally fumbling my way in Excel). Then I printed the list out on white adhesive sheets I got from Papertrey Ink and cut them down to fit on the cd case using a paper trimmer. I also printed out the list on regular paper so I have a list of what I have and keep this in a binder I'm starting listing things I have for supplies.

Here's a picture of the list.
Some day I'll figure out how to get rid of the extra lines on top...when I have time!

I also did a list of the categories on my rolodex you can see here.

Well that's all I have for today. I hope this helps you if you were looking for ideas on organization. I love to be organized and I have lots of other tips I'll post soon. Also, definitely check out Patter's blog. She has some awesome ideas.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I just finished 2 cards using one of my favorite stamps "Reflective" by Elisabeth Bell from Sugar Nellie. I love her images and can't wait to get more of them. I used my favorite technique...coloring with my Prismacolors! I'm going to keep doing this image image till I get it right! Sometimes I get confused about where the "lights" coming from. :-)

Hope you enjoy these!

I have also been working on organizing my craft room and will be posting some the things I've done this week. It's making a big difference in locating things and knowing what I already have!

Friday, April 8, 2011

This is an image I stamped last year and finally colored this morning. I love this color pink and I love this embossing folder. I'm finally starting to use the Labels Four die cut. It would be nice if there was one size larger die in the set. I did this for an Easter card, but I don't think I'll have a sentiment on the outside...I like it without it on this one.

I'll be posting this on Split Coast Stampers in my gallery if you need any details on it. Thanks for looking!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The box I used for the One Sheet Wonder 8x8 is the "A2 Card Box" by Beate, located in the Resources/tutorials section on Split Coast Stampers here.

To increase the size of the box to accomodate 9 cards and envelopes, I adjusted it so I could still use 8 1/2 x 11 paper. It could be a little bigger, but I think it works out good. The measurements I used are:

The easiest way to cut this, is to cut across the top at 5 1/2" so you're cutting off pieces #1,2,3,& waste. Cut those according to the measurements. Then cut the remaining card pieces vertically into sections, then horizontally pieces #4,5,6,7,8/9. Then vertically again for pieces #6,7,8,9. Note: Make sure to cut the waste off of pieces 9 so that they measure 1 1/8"x1 1/8" (I had trouble with that before). I also lightly number the pieces on the back of them to help me keep track of them.

I then decide the card base color, and mats I will need for each. I cut all these and put the pieces and mats together in each card base. I usually end up changing 1 or 2 of the colors later, but it's a good start.

I also write out all the mat measurements before I cut them to help me...I need all the help I can get, it's easy for me to get confused! I have them listed on the cutting layout sheet so I have them for next time too.
This is a picture of the measurements if you would like them...hopefully you can read them if you click on the picture, if not let me know.

***Update: 5/26/11

I had a request for the "Additional Info" showing the mats measurements I used because of this not being readable when printed out...I will post them here in case anyone else needs them! Note: I made a couple of changes to make it a clearer. Measurements are in inches.

Additional Info:

1. Mat 1: 2-3/4 x 2-3/4

2. Mat 1: 2-3/4 x 2; Mat 2: 3 x 2-1/4

3. Mat 1: 2-3/4 x 3-3/8; Mat 2: 3 x 3-5/8

4. Mat 1: 5-1/2 x 2-3/4

5. Mat 1: 5-1/2 x 1-3/4; Sentiment: 1-3/4 x 2-1/4; Mat: 2 x 2-1/2

6. Mat 1: 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 (cut 2) AND 1-1/2 x 2-7/8 (cut 1); Note: I did these all the same color.

Last year I created a one sheet wonder using an 8x8 piece of paper. I've been wanting to create more of these and just finished up two of them that I'll be posting. I thought I would also posts the instructions if anyone could use them.

I like the 8x8 version because there's only 9 cards to make and it doesn't take as long as the large version. It's also a nice amount of cards for gift giving.

I like to do these with "special" papers that I love and tend to not want to use them because they are so special. I don't mind using an 8x8 piece to create something really special.

I actually created 2 of these at the same time with the new designer series paper, Springtime Vintage.

This is the set I did using blues:

This is the set I did using greens:

I also decided to create a box for each of them to put in for gift giving.

I used the "A2 card box" located on Split Coast Stampers in the resources/tutorials section. Here is the link if you would like it. I increased the size of the box to fit the 9 cards and envelopes.

I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but I'll give instructions for the one sheet wonder, the individual cards, and the adjusted box measurements that I used. I'll do these in separate posts so it can be a little easier to find on here. Hope you find these useful!

Friday, April 1, 2011

This is a card I made this morning using the new Bliss stamp set from Stampin Up. This took me about 2 minutes to make...very unusual for me! You could probably easily add a sentiment. Might make a pretty set of cards to make for a gift and make a box to go with it.

This is one of my favorite stamps from Sugar Nellie. She is soooo sweet! This was another image I colored a long time ago when I was still new at it. It's actually not too bad for a beginner so I decided I'd turn it into a card. This would be pretty to frame for a little girl's room...may need to do that. This is the first time using the Labels Four from Spellbinders Nestibilities...it comes out so pretty.